Marching bands gear up for Turkey Day

High school marching bands are as much a part of Thanksgiving Day as the local football game and a turkey dinner afterward.

Mike Melanson

Oliver Ames High School in Easton will enlist alumni to cheer on the marching band during a patriotic halftime performance.

High school marching bands from Wareham and Stoughton will perform Beatles songs at their respective football games Thursday, while Middleboro High band members will be pumping up students and players during the action on the field.

It’s Thanksgiving — time for high school football and the rousing music performed by student marching bands before families, friends, teachers and alumni.

That spirit will be seen at games across the region on Thursday in colorful uniforms, sparkling musical instruments and showy banners.

It will be heard in high-stepping march tunes, classic rock songs and lively pep numbers.

It will be felt as crowds of spectators cheer as one for their local team.

“As far as performances go, this is one of our most visible performances,” said Oliver Ames High Band Director Rob Wheeler.

In Wareham on Thursday, 38 members of the high school marching band and color guard will take to their home field during halftime and perform numbers by the Beatles as the Wareham Vikings take on archrivals the Bourne Canalmen, said Jayson Newell, music director at Wareham High School.

The performance earned Wareham a gold medal at this year’s New England Scholastic Band Association competition in Quincy. The band has practiced it three times a week, including Fridays and Saturdays, since September.

Wareham band members will face their second-biggest crowd of the year on Thursday. The band performs in the Falmouth Christmas Parade in front of 80,000 people, Newell said.

“For seniors, this is their last halftime show. They get geared. They get excited,” he said. “This is for bragging rights.”

Middleboro’s band, meanwhile, takes its show on the road on Thursday as the Sachems play an away game against the Carver Crusaders.

“The kids will be in the bleachers playing pep songs, getting the crowd riled up, the football team pumped,” said Pittsley.

Middleboro’s band will not perform on the field at halftime, as the school is known more for its concert band than its marching band and some of the members are away for the holiday weekend, Pittsley said.

However, 56 band members will cheer on the visitors with the Sachem fight song, “Hail to the Varsity,” he said.

In Easton, Oliver Ames High is enlisting the help of alumni to join the school’s pep band in the stands at a home game against the Sharon Eagles, to be played at Stonehill College, said Wheeler.

“We’re trying to get as many kids, as many players, out there as we can,” he said.

During halftime, 75 students with the Tigers marching band will form a semicircle on the field and perform patriotic music with an American Faces theme, Wheeler said.

The band performs in New England Scholastic Band Association competitions as well as on Veterans Day, Memorial Day and at Lions Club Holiday Festival parades.

The band starts practicing in August and keeps at it right through Thursday. “They work awfully hard,” he said.

Weather permitting, the Stoughton High School marching band, with 110 members, will take to the high school field today at 9 a.m. to perform for middle school students.

It’s an opportunity for the band to get in one more full rehearsal before Thursday’s big game, as the Canton Bulldogs travel to Stoughton to take on the Black Knights at home, said John Kearns, director of fine arts for Stoughton schools.

This year, Stoughton will perform music by the Beatles. In years past, they honored other classic rock bands such as Aerosmith, Santana, Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

“To have a big hometown crowd cheer them on is a pretty exciting experience,” Kearns said. “For the kids, it’s very exciting to play for their families and peers.”

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